Contemporary mini-van vehicles and sport utility vehicles may be provided with rear seat assemblies for rear passengers in which provision is made for converting the rear seat assembly to a cargo-carrying platform rearward of forward seat assemblies for the vehicle driver and the front seat passenger. An example of an arrangement of this type can be seen by referring to U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,709.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/698,350, entitled "THIRD AUTOMOTIVE SEAT ASSEMBLY FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE", filed Aug. 15, 1996, discloses a rear seat assembly for a mini-van vehicle which comprises a lower seat portion and an upright seat back support portion that are pivotally supported on a seat base secured to the floor structure of the passenger compartment. The seat assembly is capable of carrying passengers when it is in its normal operating mode and is capable of forming an extension of a cargo-carrying platform when it is folded. Application Ser. No. 08/698,350 is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
The lower seat portion for the rear seat assembly disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/698,350 is supported on a seat base by an articulated linkage that permits the lower seat portion to be moved forward toward the seat assemblies for the vehicle driver and front seat passenger so that the upper surface of the lower seat portion functions as an extension of the cargo-carrying surface. In this respect, the design of the copending application differs from the design of the '709 patent, which provides for a tilting movement of the seat portion about a forward tilt axis to invert the lower seat portion for cargo-carrying purposes.
After the lower seat portion of the design of the copending application is moved forward in this fashion, the seat back support portion may be folded forward, thereby defining an extension of a load-carrying platform generally in the plane of the upper surface of the forwardly positioned lower seat portion.